The Golden Prize
by ivemademychoice
Summary: Rose is back in her Universe, but there's an unfamiliar face. A Time Lord that may be allias, but an enemy at the same time. Can she trust his past? Despite his wicked ways, maybe he can help them out of the mess they're in. Master & Rose. Maybe a few appearances from an old favourite too. R&R. Updating daily/every other day. WARNING: Torture scenes. [Later chapters]
1. Chapter 1

Rose rubbed her head as she slowly opened her eyes, wondering where on Earth she was. If it even was Earth, which was never out of the possibilities for her anymore. One minute she was simply walking home from work, an ordinary day at Torchwood. But then again, was there every a normal day when it came to working with aliens and saving the world? That was her normal and average day now. She would still give everything she had to have one more day in the TARDIS though. One more day. All of a sudden there had been a bright light, pulling her in. She didn't know where it had come from, there'd been no readings throughout the day, or any sign that something like this was happening.

She lay on the road, her head pounding as she tried to adjust to all her surroundings. "What the hell?" She whispered to herself, groaning as she tried to sit up. It was only when Rose noticed the ordinary looking streets, and the lack of zeppelins in the sky that she began to believe she may not even be in the right Universe. It was deserted, finding no-one around her, making her even more scared of where she could be.

She glanced up to find a man simply standing there all on his own, his hands shoved in his pockets and walking towards Rose with a small smirk of satisfaction on his lips. He started at her for a moment, a smirk slowly beginning to form across his face. Little did Rose know that he had things planned for her, or at least he would make her think that soon enough. He felt his laser screwdriver buried deep in his pockets, smiling as he contemplated over something for a moment. "Rose Tyler. The Doctor's favourite." He squinted his eyes a bit at her as he took in her appearance. "I can truly see why that's the case."

"I'm sorry?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrow as she pulled herself back on to her feet, unable to register that he had even mentioned The Doctor. "How do you know who I am—hold on. Did you just say The Doctor?"

"Oh, I know The Doctor. I know all about him." He said, tilting his head as he took in Rose's appearance, pacing around her, but always keeping his eyes averted towards the sky. "And I know all who travel with him. But here is my question. How did you end up here?" He came to a stop right beside her, bringing his gaze back upon her as though trying to figure her out. Rose's eyes glanced at him now and again before looking away, unable to help but feel intimated by him.

"You tell me..." She whispered, she couldn't look vulnerable, but that easier said than done right now. He knew The Doctor, and she knew that fifty percent of the time that wasn't a good thing. It was anything but goo. "Who are you?" She repeated, "How do you know The Doctor?" She questioned, watching hi place his hand back in to his pockets, pulling out an item looking similar to The Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"Know what this is?" He asked but didn't wait for an answer as he continued his pacing once more. "His is sonic, mine is laser. Who would have sonic? I mean…what use is that? The Doctor and I go back further than you will ever hope to know." He came to stop in front of her this time, his face mere inches away from her own. "I'm The Master." He half whispered to her, smiling a mile wide, showing how truly crazy he was.

"You're a Time Lord." She said in a tiny voice, feeling shivers running throughout when he whispered. She'd grown up during her years apart from The Doctor, but that didn't mean she was immune to feeling scared. Right now she was terrified, and nervous over why she was here. Was it to get back to The Doctor? Did The Master want to use her against him?

"A Time Lord, yes." He confirmed but shook his head a bit, his finger playing over the button to fire his laser, feeling the urge now more than ever to use it. It had been so long. "Tell me Rose Tyler, can you hear them? I can sense the fear riding off of you. You must hear them then, yes?" He narrowed his gaze at her, any trace of a smile long gone. Rose simply shook her head, feeling her breathing shaking as he stepped towards her. "They never stop. The drums, never ending."

"Drums?" Rose questioned, but he ignored her and went back to pacing around the open space, his screwdriver safely back in his pockets.

"You're on Earth by the way. Not your original time line of course. My guess is you touched something or ended up walking in to something The Doctor told you not to?" He asked, unaware that she had been away from The Doctor for so long.

"I wasn't with The Doctor." She told him, her mind going back to the drums he had mentioned earlier. It suddenly struck her that she knew exactly what he had been talking about. Years ago, when she saved The Doctor and absorbed the Time Vortex, she'd heard them. The drums constantly going inside her mind. "Those drums you mentioned…"

"Yes?" The Master asked, his head shooting up as soon as she mentioned them again. "What do you know about them? Can you make them stop?" He asked, hi voice almost begging, emphasising how crazy they had truly made him throughout the centuries he had been living. His eagerness was getting the better of him, trying to calm himself down with a few deep breaths. He wouldn't allow himself to get this way, to show his desperate state to a mere human.

"No," Rose shook her head, slightly shocked that he was so desperate for an answer, relieved that the drums hadn't been in her head for long. They clearly made people insane. "No, I've heard them before though. They were in my head once." She explained, noticing The Master's slightly disheartened expression, but he quickly covered it back up.

"Come." He said, his head lowering in sadness that he had lost all hope of ever being sane. If that was even possible for him anymore. He chewed his bottom lip for the time being, shoving his hand in to his pockets again. For a moment Rose feared he would get out the laser screwdriver and show her what it could do to someone as weak and vulnerable as her, a human. "You must be hungry, it's freezing out here." He said before walking off in front of her, not wanting to show that he cared in the slightest.

**Enjoy. Sorry this was so short; I just wanted to introduce the surroundings and the 2 main character. I hope you enjoyed this so far. R&R and I shall give you a cookie, and another chapter tomorrow!**

**My aim is to update one a day/every other day, most of it's already written loosely, so I just have to type it all up!**

**Let me know what you think/ Everyone loves a bit of Master/Rose, right?**


	2. Chapter 2

"Welcome to the past. England, 1867." The Master said as he began to lead Rose into a small town. The houses around looked as though they were just about ready to crumble to the ground. People sat around the streets, looking depressed as though they had lost all hope in life. He stopped at one of the houses, going up the three steps it took to get to the front door. He walked into the house and tossed his jacket onto the nearby couch. The inside looked a million times better than the outside and The Master walked down a hallway and into the kitchen. "You have every right not to trust me. But right now, I'm all you've got Ms. Tyler and you know it Now, why don't you tell how you got here?"

Rose looked around, knowing she was in a parallel world now, was it her original world? Not only was she in another Universe, but nearly 200 years out of her own timeline. "I don't know," She answered him, just as she had said before. "I was walking home, it was a normal day, and there was a bright light. That's all I know. Well, I know that it was a parallel world to this one."

"Parallel world you say?" The Master muttered, grabbing a knife and slicing the only good tomato he could find. "Well you'll just find you're probably in another one. Parallel, paradox, past, present. They're all very confusing. Well, they are to humans." He tossed her a plate with what appeared to be a sandwich, but just with tomato and lettuce. He smirked at her as he leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. "Sorry, haven't stocked up on any meat lately. I wasn't prepared for guests."

"Not hungry anyway," She whispered, still feeling on edge about who this 'Master' was, but he was her only ally right now, and he was helping her. Even if it was just for the time being. "Parallel world," She muttered to herself. "I probably wouldn't even know what my own Universe looked like, it's been so long."

"Not with your mere human brain." The Master said, stopping for a moment. "Was that rude?" He questioned more to himself than to Rose,. It reminded her a lot of The Doctor, but she didn't dare say it. "That white light you mentioned, that was how I got here too. Whatever it was, I think we're linked."

"How?" Rose questioned, but The Master simply shook his head.

"Some sort of energy, I'm presuming. It's like a random black hole, sucking people through." He said, pausing for a moment, staring down at Rose as she quietly nibbled on her bread. "What happened between you and The Doctor?" He asked, not even registering that he had asked until it came out of his mouth.

"Why do you care?" Rose whispered, a lot had happened between her and The Doctor, but she didn't care to discuss it with The Master of all people. She had her own Doctor now, back home on Pete's World. Waiting for her to come home, but she wasn't coming home tonight, not tomorrow, or even the night after that. Rose wondered if she would even get back to that world again. She shook the thought from her mind, going back to the black holes. "It's not the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

The Master simply stood there for the time being, wathing Rose as she mumbled away. He could tell she was scared. But of what he did not know. And what type of fear he could not tell. Was it like his? The fear of going mad, the drums never stopping? Or was it on a more mortal level of misses and love? He began to think of the energy that brought them here. Why them? Why here? Why this time? "Yes, well these holes don't just appear on a planet. They appear in space. Someone planted it there and drew us in. There's a reason behind all this. But why wait so long after my arrival to bring you here?" He walked around her for a moment and then retreated back down the hallway.

"Something wanted us here?" Rose said, watching as he walked away. "But why? Why us?" She asked, moving in to the living room as he sat on the sofa. Could she trust him after his slightly crazy acts earlier? She had to try. "How long have you been here?"

"A few months," He responded, "There's not much to distract me from the drums. No noise, no company. Nothing. It can send a man crazy after a while."

"It's okay," Rose smiled softly at The Master, relaxing in to the chair, feeling a bit more at ease around him now. "I understand, I know what it's like to be alone, in a place that you don't belong. And the drums. That mixture's enough to make anyone act a bit weird when they see people, especially people from modern day, well, my modern day."

"In case you are thinking of leaving," He started after a moment or two of silence, glancing towards her, wondering if she would try and get out of this alone. "You can try. But I've searched this whole town, even the city and I found no way of getting back through that white light. It never appears. The only time it did was when you showed up."

"There must be something though, whoever this is, there's always a solution for it to be reversed, we've just got to find it out. Find out who's creating these black holes." She whispered, Rose wasn't sure if The Master was even keen on leaving. He seemed to have settled in easy enough, could he be happy anywhere? "Assuming we're not the only ones that have been brought through, there must be others, right? We just need to find them."

"And how do you propose we trace these others, if there even are others out there? I have no gadgets like The Doctor. I have my laser screwdriver in my pocket and that is it." He laid back down, continuing his tapping on his chest as it heaved with aggravation. She wanted The Doctor, but he wasn't that man. He never wanted to be that kind of man.

"It was a guess! You're not saying anything! It's worth a shot, there's got to be a Torchwood or something by now. You've been here for months, haven't you noticed anything?"

There's a man I've been watching." He said, looking out of the window for the time being. "He lives a few houses down. But he's always dressed too fancy to live here, everyone else is in rags. It seems as if no one else sees him but me." The Master turned around and walked to the front door, opening it and peering outside. "He passes by here every day just after nightfall. Perhaps he is what we seek, Ms Tyler."

"No-one see's him? Like a ghost?" She asked, noticing he had some sort of folder in his hands.

"My thought's exactly, why can we see him and no-one else?" He questioned, racing towards the kitchen to gather something for Rose, holding out a key for her. "A key, in case we get separated." He smiled, a smirk falling against his lips as he took a few steps outside, swivelling to face Rose. "Come along then, before we lose him. He may be the key for us to get out of here."

**The plot thickens! R&R and I shall update tomorrow! The more reviews, the more I'll be updating. Maybe I'll give you two chapters tomorrow?**


	3. Chapter 3

The Master shoved his hands into his pocket to try and look casual as they walked side by side. As they passed by a drunken man sitting on the curb, he crouched down and took the man's hat, placing it firmly on his head and smiling once more at Rose. "Gotta keep the face hidden." He tapped the hat and laughed lightly. "Well it's a business that obviously makes money. Maybe these people are intimidated by him. Could be why they don't approach him."

"Yeah I guess so..." Rose said quietly, looking behind her as they walked. "If I lived here and saw him in the street I wouldn't approach him. M'sure he's got some people who could maybe…deal with people he doesn't like or agree with." Rose muttered as they continued to casually walk, trying not to seem as though she didn't fit in, even though it was clearly obvious. The few people on the street seemed to stare at them, but The Master didn't even seem fazed. Maybe he was just used to that.

He held out his arm in front of Rose to stop her for the time being. "Look, he's going into that house." The Master nodded, and began counting the buildings from his own to the one the man was currently entering. "That's not his place." He whispered, crouching down a bit, and motioned for Rose to follow as he hurriedly walked to the side of the house and pointed to the window.

"Have you even got a plan?" Rose hissed as she simply followed The Master's lead in hope that he would know what needed to be done. "What if he's just some normal guy doing normal business with people?"

"My dear if there is one thing you know about Time Lord's, it is that we always have a plan...which is mainly made up as we go along." He turned back, not realising how similar he was to The Doctor at times, but Rose could see it. He took out his laser screwdriver, pointing it at the door he then placed his ear at the other end. "Advanced hearing." He whispered to Rose with a trivial smile. Tilting up slightly, he glanced into the house through the side window. "If he was doing normal business then he would always carry something with him. Not just a simple folder one day out of the blue. That my head, is not normal."

"How would oyu know?" Rose murmured under her breath, trying to listen in to whatever may be going on inside. As soon as she heard voices, Rose knew The Master was right. This wasn't normal business taking place.

"The report came in ma'am." The man said from inside, resting the folder against a dining table, talking to whomever was in charge. "Another one, but by the time we got there, there were no traces of anyone having come through." He folded one leg over the other and rested his folded hands upon his knee.

"I want you to find them, whoever they are. They may be dangerous. Bring them back to me." The dominant voice ordered, and Rose knew exactly who they were talking about. Them. They wanted Rose and The Master.

The Master shoved his laser screwdriver back into his pocket, grabbing Rose's arm and guided her a few houses down, keeping a safe distance from the man now leaving the house and heading back down the street. "They were definitely talking about us. Now I'm thinking you were on to something when you said there must be more around the world." The Master stopped talking as the man passed by them and headed into a different house. "That's his house. He won't come out until the break of dawn." He took off the hat and tossed it onto the floor, no longer needing some sort of disguise.

"So, we just wait?" Rose whispered, looking up at The Master, noticing the slight expression on his face. She knew it could only mean trouble. "We're not going in now; whatever is going can wait until tomorrow!" She insisted, feeling nerves beginning to bubble deep inside her.

"Why bother waiting when we can get what we want now?" He said with a wicked smile on his lips, beginning to walk up to the man's front door, motioning for Rose to join him. She simply groaned, dragging her feet behind her as she followed his lead.

"Breaking in?" She asked, but already knowing the answer. They would only be drawing even more attention to themselves. But The Master didn't seem to care about that anymore.

"Why? Want me to be polite?" He asked with a slight smirk and roll of his eyes. With a pout he knocked on the door four times, waiting a milli-second for an answer before knowing again. "No-one's home." He said with a grin, frowning when the door was unlocked. "I wasn't breaking in anyway if it was unlocked." He said, walking in to the old, dingy house. "Hello?!"

"He can't have left already…" Rose said, looking around the house when they hear silence ahead of them. They wandered round for a little while, trying to see what was going on. Wherever he had disappeared to, it couldn't have been through the front door. She wandered around, forgetting about The Master for the time being. In a dusty old office, she found papers scattered everywhere, yelling for The Master to come and join her.

"What is it?" He questioned, annoyed that she had bothered him with what he was doing, his laser screwdriver at hand in case it might be needed. He stared down at the papers, noticing a list of dates, times and locations scattered upon them.

"Past and future." She whispered, noticing the future dates noted down. The Master left the room, bouncing on his feet and headed back downstairs, revealing what he had been working on.

"Think I found the answer to where we can get more of these papers. And find out who's behind all this." He said, peeling back the carpet and revealing a trap door, opening it. "We've got to get out of here. You keep those papers safe." He ushered her behind him as he looked around and headed for the door slowly, hearing footsteps below them heading in their direction. They cringed every time they heard the floorboards beginning to creak beneath their footsteps, not matter how light and dainty they attempted to be.

The Master helped Rose open it, the cold breeze entering the house, blowing some papers in the room astray. "Go quickly." He whispered in a rushed tone. He tucked his laser screwdriver into his pocket and stood close behind Rose as they managed to get out. They rushed up the main road, making sure they weren't being followed, stopping when they were finally out of sight. Rose clutched her side as she tried to catch her breath, hoping whoever was under the trap door didn't realise it was them. The Master took the papers off Rose, trying to get a better look at them.

"How specific are they?" Rose asked as The Master simply stared at them intetntly. She didn't know what half of it meant, but she knew he would be able to read them within an instant.

"This gateway seems to appear in the same place every time. The co-ordinates are the same on all of them. But there's no pattern on arrivals. The only thing off is the dates. The years don't match up." He brought his hand to rest on the arm of the chair, his fingers idly tapping his familiar drum beat as he seemed to fall into a daze as he continued tapping.

"Maybe they've built something?" She suggested, knowing she may not be doing any good, but she had to at least try. "That's too advanced for this time period though, right?"

"Right." The Master confirmed, glancing over to Rose, her blonde hair blowing in the wind as she shivered slightly. "What's to say they're even from this planet? That's got to be it! They're not from here, probably studying human nature. But you and I aren't regular like these other people they've pulled in. I'm a Time Lord, and you've travelled with The Doctor, you're contaminated. That's why we're a threat to them."

"How come they didn't get you? When you arrived?"

"I wasn't the target, Rose Tyler." He said, his eyes glaring down at her. "You though, oh you Rose, I don't think you were a mistake. They wanted you. Why they work so hard to get you from a parallel world?" He questioned.

"They want me?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly, wondering what they could possibly want. A few ideas passed through her mind, but she didn't dare voice them right now. Not yet, this could be a mistake.

"There is something about you that they want." The Master whispered, staring at her as though she were a piece of meat, looking her up and down as though it make her abnormalities even more clear. "But whatever it is it can't be good."

**Thoughts? If you review, I'll give you more!**

**The more reviews = the more updates. Why do they want Rose?**


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